INVESTING.COM – Asian markets took a breather Tuesday, with market across the region down on profit taking following a recent rally. The shallow losses tracked similar moves in U.S. markets at the close of Monday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.11% at mid-morning to 26,441. Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index was down 0.06% to 3,296.10. Korea's Kospi was down 0.06% to 2,128.21. In Japan, the Nikkei gave up 0.69% to 19,979.50. The Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index was down 0.27% to 5,825.25.

China's markets continued to drop on Tuesday despite the strong data reported a day ealier. The Shanghai Compasit Index giving up 0.62% to 3,156.76 while the technology heavy Shenzhen Composite Index was down 0.55% to 1790.55.

The drops in China came despite the release of strong second quarter GDP growth numbers on Monday with a gain of 1.7% that matched expectations and a year-on-year increase of 6.9% that came in slighltly higher than the expected 6.8%. At the same time, China reported industrial production gained 7.6% from a year earlier in June and retail sales rose 11% in June.

Bucking the trend, Thailand was up, with the SET Index virtually flat with gains of just 0.05%. The PSEi Index in the Philippines was up 0.19%.

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